‘Those Who Wish Me Dead’ Review- Too Much Of A Slow Burn

This film streamed in 2021.

Those Who Wish Me Dead‘ is an action thriller directed by Taylor Sheridan. It was released by New Line Cinema in both theaters and on the HBO Max streaming service.

Hannah (Angelina Jolie) is a smokejumper who is assigned to a watchtower in the forests of Montana. Despite support from her colleagues, she is reeling from guilt after she was unable to rescue civilians during a previous fire. Meanwhile, forensic accountant Owen (Jake Weber) and his son Ethan (Finn Little) are trying to connect with Sheriff Ethan (Jon Bernthal) as the assassins Patrick (Nicholas Hoult) and Jack (Aidan Gillen) track them down. A forest fire will soon force all of these people together as Hannah and Ethan work together.

Sheridan is a very talented director who does a good job showing the humanity of the characters and how the events of the plot is affecting their lives. The way he crafts this story is impressive, but for this film, I felt the plot was way too slow. Even for the short running time, it felt like it went on for a long time. It slowed to a crawl, and while the story is compelling, it just bogged down a bit. Now, it still kept me invested, so that made it worth sticking to the film.

As for the performances, they are superb. Everyone did a good job in their roles. Jolie, Bernthal, and Little were especially noteworthy for this action flick. Hoult also brought a chilling appearance to the screen. Tyler Perry has a small cameo and it was good.

Two things I will get nitpicky about. The first is the music. Except for the climax, the score did not impress me that much. I thought was just sort of typical for this genre and was not anything new. The second is we do not really know what the forensic account had or who he had it on. It was clearly something important, but this MacGuffin was not even given a name attached to it.

Bottom line, Those Who Wish Me Dead is an interesting story and has some excellent performances by the cast. It does go a little too slow, but there is enough to keep you interested.

PARENTAL CONCERNS: Violence, Strong foul language, Frightening images, Gore

FAVORITE QUOTE: Are you someone I can trust?

Check out the trailer below:

What do you think? Let me know in the comments below. Tell me if there is a comic book, movie, anime, or novel you would like me to review.